


Just Perfect

by robotmonarchy



Category: Futurama
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Other, fwp (fluff without plot), how to deal with your insecure robot boyfriend, uncreative robot metaphors, warning: Bender is Bender
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-06
Updated: 2015-06-06
Packaged: 2018-04-03 03:25:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,257
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4084873
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/robotmonarchy/pseuds/robotmonarchy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"An upgrade? But I thought we agreed I was perfect! Fry, didn't we agree I was perfect?"</p>
            </blockquote>





	Just Perfect

**Author's Note:**

> Based on the dialogue in the summary from the episode "Obsoletely Fabulous"  
> i talked about it in a tumblr post but i'm fairly certain that bender is the most insecure creature on the planet  
> that being said, i always did wonder what the "perfect" conversation played out as. so i tried thinking about it but it turned gay. but don't blame me, this was just supposed to be a drabble, but it became this...thing. i don't particularly like it, but perhaps someone else will. besides, this was a good break from other longer fic that i'm working on.  
> also yes, my headcanon is that fry is weak towards bender whenever he shows a hint of intimacy or insecurity  
> and yes, the 80s rock band is def leppard  
> and slowly  
> s l o w l y  
> my prose is starting to sound less like an essay

_"Hah!"_ Bender said, interrupting midst today’s reality TV special. “Those people are pretty insecure if they want to be reassured they're perfect all the time."  
Fry, who was slouched next to him on the couch with a beer can in hand and a lazy smirk on his face, only creatively commented, "Ha-ha!  Yeah." 

When it became too quiet outside of TV noise, Fry's thoughts drifted from eating pizza to the possibility of skipping work tomorrow to get said pizza, and, finally, to Bender's words. Fry tore his eyes off the television screen to steal a look at his friend. Rigid in his seat, Bender's steepled fingers were wrung together, moving in nervous patterns. Fry blinked, and looked at his empty beer can awkwardly, as if an answer could be found if he could’ve had drank just a _little_ more.

"I mean, what are these people, if not terrified that they're worthless and that their friends didn’t love them as much as they previously thought they did?" Bender continued, sounding forced, and on the borderline of being panicked.

Fry, never moving, narrowed his eyes and angled his head to look at Bender. " _Bender!_ You don't think you're perfect?" A part of Fry wants to believe that Bender was pulling his leg here. No one would ever believe how many "I'm the greatest!" morning songs he's put up with.   
_No one._

If he thought hard about it, Fry figured that everyone thought Bender's confidence is the boldest part about him. He's even heard Leela use the terms ' _Narcissistic'_ or ' _Egotistical_.'  They were words that Fry had trouble understanding at first, but he soon would have learned their meaning eventually around Bender.

Bender crossed his arms and glared away. "I never said that! That's slander! How dare you accuse me of such a thing! I've never been more offended in my life!" He only turned back to face Fry with a raised fist.

Though flinching behind his arms, Fry's eyebrow still arched upwards at Bender. "Come on, Bender, what's bugging you?"

Bender, conflicted between carrying on with his punishment or, dare he thought, being _honest_ with his feelings, sighed in defeat. His arms fell from his shoulders so far that his metal fingers skimmed the dirty, carpeted floor.  The bot has been experiencing a problem too persistent that's it’s not even worth the energy to deny right now.   
  
Besides, he could always just punch Fry later.

"It can be a little tiring sometimes..." Bender relented, "To be the only person in the world calling yourself great, talented, handsome, _sexy_ , unique, charming—"

"—I get it," Fry rolled his eyes and silenced him right there. But there's fondness in his voice as he raised himself from his slouched position and inched closer to Bender. It just twisted his heart whenever Fry had a rare glimpse of Bender being so sad, pathetic—and—well— _silly_. Thoughtlessly, Fry reached Bender’s hand and interlocked it with his.  When Bender startled at the sudden contact, it took Fry a lot of self-control to not breathe out a giggle.

Even Fry could’ve guessed that Bender was the rare type of robot who needed a little reassurance from their friends now and then. He hadn’t stopped to think about it, but just because Bender's a robot, doesn't mean he didn’t appreciate a little bit of contact. Right? … _Right?_  

Meanwhile, if Bender had a heart, it'd jump, but instead all the various mechanisms in his chest drummed more intensely than an 80's rock band. He was only then hyper-aware of the contrast of a cold, metal hand under a warm, fleshy one. "...Fry?"

"I think you're perfect, Bender." Fry said simply, as he brought their hands closer to his chest. He wasn’t the best with words, not really anyway, he was never quite able to incite a riot like Bender could. But he'd hoped that this gesture communicated things he hadn't been brave enough to say lately. _Or,_ he corrected himself, he’s just helping a friend when he’s sad.  
  
It probably wouldn’t help if Fry let his thoughts linger too much on his emotions.

"Really?" Bender stared at Fry like he was going to disappear if he looked away for even a moment.  The idea there was another person who even remotely agreed with him seemed surreal, yet so uplifting in the current microsecond of Bender's brief time-traveled ridden existence. It made him aware of their closeness, their hands together on Fry's chest, where a human, _disgusting_ , and fragile human heart thumped underneath, reminding him of the way his hydraulics sped up whenever the other was near. 

Fry nodded emphatically. "You're perfect in the way you're usually brave enough to say you're perfect," he began, and, if Fry ever had reservations about his feelings, they're forgotten right now, "You're perfect in the way you always seem angry for no reason, and you're perfect in the way you've always been perfect, by being my first and bestfriend."   
  
Bender gasped and leaned even closer in disbelief.  "Do you think I'm perfect even when I say 'Kill All Humans'?"   
  
"It’s scary that I think so," he replied, his other palm raised to his forehead because Fry couldn't believe it himself, "but...Uh-huh." Fry continued to nod and smile broadly, revealing the laughter in his eyes.   
  
"Good,” Bender added, “Because I always said ‘except one’ anyway."   
  
Fry's smile collapsed. "What? _Who_?"  
  
Bender grinned, having sensed the human’s heartbeat grow faster. "You." 

Not sure what he was going for when he started the conversation, but Bender had a feeling it was going to get really good in just about a second.  
  
For a moment, Fry gaped at Bender as heat engulfed his cheeks. He tried to remember the last time Bender admitted something as sentimental as that. He came up a little blank. And while Fry always did find Bender's hatred towards humans out of the ordinary,  he ignored it,  and sometimes even _Fry_ hated people. Still, it certainly had to mean a lot to be an exception to Bender’s human hating programming. Even if it didn’t, Bender’s admission revived the feelings Fry had for his friend. Which wasn't fair, he had been trying to drown that with Slurm cans and alcohol as of late. And although he was going to have to ask Bender later where exactly he planned on keeping Fry if the rest of humanity _were_ to be destroyed and be replaced by robot-kind,  a part of him didn’t want to know the answer. But Bender has been known to be really capable in world domination, so it’d be best to ask and prepare just in case.

He met Bender’s eyes and they seemed deadpan, as if his friend could sense the mushy happenings in Fry’s brain and didn’t approve of it being a distraction. As he shook his head back into reality Fry began feeling brave. He leaned in to tentatively press a kiss on Bender's mouth-plate, where initially, Fry felt nothing, but then electricity pleasantly buzzed on his lips. _Huh._ Less painful than he’d thought it’d be. He always did wonder what it felt like.  

When they parted, Bender beamed back at him in both giddiness and success. Is this what usually happened when humans expressed their emotions? He could get used to that, or at least whatever happened just now. Wordlessly, he searched for a response from Fry, refraining from asking how that was because he didn't want to be _t_ _hat_ insecure. 

Fry, appearing very much flushed but sensing the question in Bender's eyes, grinned, “Just perfect.”


End file.
